What is the grammatical role of the particle が in the names of places like 自由が丘 (Jiyūgaoka), 桜が丘(Sakuragaoka)?
I've noticed that place names that use the kanji 岡 (oka) don't use が, like 福岡, 静岡 etc.
Also, why is that が sometimes written as a subscript Katakana "ke" as in 桜ヶ丘駅, Sakuragaoka-eki?
Related question: I see that sometimes the particles in names are omitted, but still pronounced, like the が in 桜丘 (Sakuragaoka), or the の in 山手線 (Yamanotesen). How common is this, are there any rules around this and how do people know to pronounce the particle?
by Dry-Area6218
